


The Herd

by SSO-Jack-Wolfwatcher (UglyJackal)



Series: Jack and Ydris have a baby AU [6]
Category: Star Stable
Genre: Jack/Ydris have a baby AU, M/M, Tumblr Prompt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-25
Updated: 2017-09-25
Packaged: 2019-01-05 08:39:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,068
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12186657
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/UglyJackal/pseuds/SSO-Jack-Wolfwatcher
Summary: Jack takes Joan to South Hoof





	The Herd

‘Daddy! Daddy!’ A high-pitched squeak woke Jack up from his peaceful snooze. He groaned and cracked his eyes open. ‘You said you’d take me to see South Hoof today!’

Jack groaned again and lifted his head from the pillow. He blinked blearily at the clock on the bedside table; it was four in the fucking morning. He rolled over and saw Joan sitting on Ydris’ chest, trembling with excitement. The wizard looked just as tired as Jack felt, and he knew deep down in his gut that his fiancée hadn’t slept very well last night.

'I know, Joan,’ Jack rasped, 'but let me have a few more hours of sleep? It won’t take long for us to get to South Hoof.’

'But I’m awake now, Daddy,’ Joan pouted.

Ydris put his hand on his daughter’s back and brought her down to lay on his chest, and wrapped his arms around her. He started to hum, and she quickly relaxed, shuffling into a more comfortable position and wrapping her own arms around her Papa’s neck. Sleep quickly enveloped her, as it so often seemed to when the wizard brought her into his arms.

'You’re not using your magic on our daughter to get her to sleep, are you?’ Jack said with a chuckle, resting his head back on the pillow and shutting his eyes.

Ydris smiled. 'Who knows? Not me,’ he responded, although Jack was already half-asleep.

* * *

When the alarm screamed three and a half hours later, Jack was in a much better mood than he had been previously. Joan was already awake, and had wiggled out of her Papa’s arms and between their two warm forms.

The alarm shut off quite abruptly as an aggressive, bad-tempered grunt came from the wizard’s throat.

Jack sat up in bed and took Joan into his arms, her still being small enough that Jack was able to pick her up and hold her to his chest, and got up out of bed carefully so as not to wake up his fiancée. 'We’ll let Papa sleep in a little longer, okay?’ he whispered to his daughter.

'Okay, Daddy,’ Joan whispered back.

Jack went into the bathroom and made sure that Joan had brushed her teeth and washed her face, as well as himself. Once they were both done in the bathroom, they went into the kitchen and Jack poured out some cereal for his daughter and shoved some bread into the toaster for himself.

Finally, they were all ready to go and they went out to the big top, that doubled up as a place for the two horses to live - as well as Jack’s own stable back at Fort Pinta of all his other horses. Jack tacked up Dale and then helped Joan tighten the girths and buckles of the tack on Ydris’ white Jorvik Pony mare, Maxine. Once they were mounted, they set off at a gentle walk towards Silverglade Village.

Once they were crossing the fields in the direction of Fort Pinta, Joan started to itch to gather speed. 'C'mon Daddy, just for a little while? Just a little gallop? Maxine will look after me,’ she whined.

Jack frowned. 'No, Joan,’ he said, 'if you fall, I’ll never hear the end of it from Papa, you know how over-protective he is.’

'What Papa doesn’t know won’t hurt him,’ Joan said, urging Maxine into a trot. The pony’s trot was very bouncy and quick-paced, but the ten-year-old was used to her, having learnt to ride on her.

Jack sighed and quickened Dale’s pace to catch up with his daughter. She was too headstrong to listen to him, and it seemed she was having one of those days.

Getting to Fort Pinta’s ferry docks and then boarding the ferry to South Hoof went quickly and smoothly. The gentle lapping of the waves against the side of the ferry seemed to entrance the young girl and the boat trip was spent in silence.

And then there they were, sitting on their respective horses, on the soft grass of the Peninsula. Joan was stunned as she looked around at the expanse of the plains, at all the rocks standing at different angles, at the circle of stones on a small incline over in the distance. 'This is incredible,’ she whispered, the beauty and peace of the place influencing her to keep her voice down.

Jack smiled and trotted out across the grass towards the middle of the plains. 'Come on, hon, I want you to meet some guys,’ he called to his daughter.

Joan trotted after her father, Maxine was very happy to get out into the fresh air and went forward with a quicker pace than before.

Father and daughter stopped in the dead centre of the Peninsula and Jack dismounted Dale, took off his tack and sat on the grass. Joan mirrored him. 'What are we here for, Daddy?’ she asked.

'You’ll see.’

The horses went off to graze a short distance away from their owners, while quiet settled over the plain once more. A few minutes passed, and there was a stamping of hooves.

Joan edged closer to her father and looked around for the source of the noise. 'What is-?’

But then there they were; the wild herd of Welsh Ponies. Numbers had greatly dropped since Anwir had gotten his dirty hands on them, but they were no less impressive in their majesty. 'There’s a herd of them, Daddy!’ Joan said. The lead mare, a flaxen chestnut, stepped forward and huffed in Jack’s mop of blue hair and then eyed Joan distrustfully.

'Don’t worry, love, this is my daughter, Joan,’ Jack said, scratching behind the mare’s ear, 'she’s a friend.’

The mare sniffed at Joan from a considerable distance, and twitched her ears. She stepped forward and snuffled at the young girl’s cheek, making her giggle.

The herd stayed milling around the two humans, nuzzling and sniffing at hair and pockets. Joan ended up laying against a bay mare’s side and fiddling with the black mane. Jack stayed fussing his own horse and the lead mare, who seemed to have taken a particular shine to him, especially knowing that he had rescued her son from Anwir’s laboratory and kept him in his stable.

Once the sun dipped below the horizon, the wild herd bid their farewell, and Jack and Joan started the journey back to Nilmer’s Highland to see Ydris.


End file.
